The Colours of Autumn

I love autumn and one of the reasons is the variety of colours that can be seen. I just love walking in woodlands marvelling at the colours that our beautiful planet provides. As a result of this I was excited and inspired by a graphic produced by compound interest. They had put together some information about the pigments that are found in the colours of autumn leaves. This set us a challenge: we were off to find as many of the different colours as possible.

Searching for Leaves in Trench Wood

Sycamore Leaves

We decided to go for a walk in a woodland just outside of Worcester called Trench Wood. Whilst autumn is not in full swing it was clear that there was plenty of different colours present in the trees. This meant that it was not long before we had a full set of autumn colours. It is incredible how many different colours there actually are. However, compound interest talked about 4. First of all you have the green colour of the summer. This is as a result of the chlorophyll, which will absorb the red and blue wavelengths of light and reflect the green. The leaf will use this energy to carry out the important process of photosynthesis.

Trench Wood

Beach

Woodland Clearing

As we move into autumn the leaf will break down the chlorophyl, so the leaf no longer looks green. What is left behind are some of the other pigments that have been present all year but hidden from view due to the abundance of chlorophyl. There are chemicals such as β-carotene (orange) and Lutein (yellow) and many more. As the leaves continue to break down reds and purples can be seen. These pigments are formed by the reaction of sugars contained in the leaves and sunlight. Once all the different chemicals of the leaf have been decomposed we are left with a brown dead leaf.

We walked around the woodland collecting as many different leaves as we could. It was amazing the variety of tree species that were present. This clearly helps increase the biodiversity of the woodland in general. The abundance of wildlife was very visible. It was certainly helped by the warm sunshine as there were lots of insects: hornets, hoverflies, bees and a total of 4 species of butterflies. We also had a very close encounter with a Roe Deer. However, as I went to take a photo I disturbed it and it ran off into the undergrowth, maybe next time.

Comma

Our Collection of Leaves

Some Autumn Craft

Looking and Photoing Fungi

Mushrooms

Blackberry Picking

It was the last day of the summer holidays and we needed an outdoor activity to occupy us for the day. The previous few day had been quite wet and unpleasant so we had a little bit of cabin fever. So with the hope of some sun we decided to go for a walk around Cherry Orchard and do some blackberry picking.

Picking Blackberries

Loads of Blackberries about

Picking Blackberries is something that really marks the changing of seasons for me. It is a clear devision between summer and the start of Autumn. I love that change. The damp foggy morning and woodland walks looking for fungi. However, for us the sun shone and it started to feel quite warm, perhaps there is still a little left in summer. Indeed as we were picking I could not resist a little time birding in the area. There were Chiffchaff's, Swallows, Martins, Lesser and Common Whitethroats and Blackcaps about. Definitely a summer feel about the day.

Speckled Wood

Hoverfly

Blackberries form on a plant known as Rubus fruticosus, or more commonly known as bramble. As we were picking the blackberries at different locations around the reserve we really started to notice the difference between the plants in the different areas. It was clear that there were different sub-species of blackberry. You could tell the difference in lots of ways between the different types. For instance some had much bigger and sharper thorns. There were slight differences in the leaves and the size and taste of the berries. The ability to form such sub-species comes from some very interesting biology. Like many plants they are polyploidy. This means that an individual could have a greater number of chromosomes than you would expect. In addition, they reproduce both sexually and asexually. As a result of this they can easily form several sub-species with minor variations. Fascinating stuff.

It got messy, really messy!!!

Blackberries are very important plants and I love having them around. They provide vital homes for many species of bird, small mammal, such as dormouse and incest. The leaves are eaten by the caterpillars of Holly blue, which are seen in good numbers in the Cherry Orchard Nature Reserve. The flowers are also a good nectar source and whilst we were out we could see a few flowers still present so they provide that all important nectar for many months.

Still Some Flowers About

All Stages of the Blackberry Development

With our blackberries we took them home and made some jam. It was a spiced jam and included cinnamon, cloves and star anise. The blackberry is a very nutritional food source and they contain vitamin C, omega-3 and omega-6, protein and if you have eaten them and had the pleasure of getting the pips stuck in your teeth you will not be surprised to know they contain lots of fibre.

Our Blackberry Pickings

Blackberry Jam

My only advice to people picking them is check it is ok to do so, lots of nature reserves do not like them picked. And secondly leave lots for the birds and other animals. 

Here is an additional blog about blackberry picking. 

Ragwort